Friday, June 13, 2003

TV chef Jamie Oliver has been honoured with an MBE for his services to the hospitality industry, after turning a group of disadvantaged youngsers into cooks for his restaurant. The 28-year-old from Essex has brought cookery to a younger generation through his unique and relaxed approach to presenting.

Tuesday, February 11, 2003

Jamie Oliver has received a roasting from TV watchdogs after an outburst on his Channel 4 show. Oliver landed himself in hot water for an episode of Jamie's Kitchen, in which he worked to turn 15 jobless youngsters into top-class chefs. During one encounter, an exasperated Oliver blurted out "Jesus f Christ" - and five viewers complained about his language. Today the Independent Television Commission ruled that the programme had breached TV guidelines. "The ITC took the view that this particular expression is deeply offensive to Christians and requires a high degree of justification, which it did not feel was present on this occasion," their report stated. "The ITC also noted that the programme began immediately after the watershed." Channel 4 said it had been imperative to show a "frank and candid portrait of Jamie Oliver" and to let viewers see "the reality and pressures of the challenge facing him". A warning had been given at the start of the programme, a spokesman added.

Sunday, January 19, 2003

They have their own website and admit that food is better than sex. Jay Rayner meets the men and women willing to spend a month's wages on a meal.

I have a guilty secret. It is a very British guilty secret. In France I would need neither to be guilty nor shy about it. There, my secret is practically a national pastime. In this country it is a different matter entirely. In this country admitting that you are - and here's the guilty secret - totally, carnally fascinated by extraordinarily expensive food experiences, puts you in the same category as foot fetishists and crack heads; a deviant, out of step with society, in thrall to truly unnatural appetites.